This study was tons of fun for me to put together and I will admit that I went a bit overboard with all these “B” activities. What can I say… both Little Bee and I loved this unit study. So grab a snack, sit back and enjoy all these activities!

Montessori Letter Work and Sandpaper “b”

I introduced the sandpaper letter “b” and this fun Montessori Letter Work book to Little Bee. I didn’t have him trace the letter b with his finger yet as he is only 2 years old, I simply set these out on his shelves for him to look at and touch when he wanted to. We did find the matching “b” in the book and talked about how the bus starts with the “buh” sound.

Introduction to the Sand Tray

I introduced the sand tray to Little Bee for the first time using a wooden letter box, white sand, blue buttons, and a fun letter “B” printable hidden under the sand at the bottom. He loved shoveling the blue buttons into the bucket of his tractor. Of course this activity was a big hit with Little Bee because he could make a sandy mess. Actually he did really well at keeping most of the sand in the box.

Matching Birds

This wonderful free bird printable from The Natural Beach blog combined with the Safari Ltd. TOOB of common backyard birds is a great matching exercise for learning pre-reading skills. Little Bee mixed up the Oriole and Robin a few times, but otherwise he was able to perfectly match these lovely birds to the cards.

Color the Letter “b” and Balloon

Here is another great letter “b” printable that encourages Little Bee to use his pre-writing skills by giving him an opportunity to scribble.

Bumble Bee Craft

Little Bee and I enjoyed making these letter “b” bumble bees with black and yellow paper, googly eyes, and black pipe cleaners. The bigger b on the left is the one I designed and Little Bee helped to design the smaller b on the right. He practiced using his fine motor skills to tear the construction paper and glue the yellow paper strips onto the black background. This letter “b” craft was inspired by the Playing House blog – Toddler Crafts.

Blue Buttons Transferred onto a Blue “b”

This pincher grasp transfer activity used large (light blue) buttons and small (dark blue) buttons that Little Bee carefully matched on this button “b” printable. I was impressed at how he was very careful to match the small buttons to the small buttons on the printable and the large with the large. He was also very precise in lining up each button into its proper spot. (*Please note that buttons can pose a choking risk for toddlers.)

Butterfly Pompom Transfer

Letter “b” Sight Words and Matching

This is a simple sight word printable and I added the objects for a matching game. I emphasized the “buh” sound while working with each card and matching object.

Letter “b” Treasure Baskets

On Little Bee’s shelves were also a couple treasure baskets with objects that start with the letter “b” sound. I started with the first basket pictured above and then decided to make an exclusively blue basket with all the objects starting with the letter “b.” I had fun finding objects that could be used as an alliteration phrase, such as a blue block, blue boat, blue bird, and blue ball. I named each object as Little Bee took them out of the basket and emphasized the “buh” sound.

Little Bee enjoyed building a blue tower with the contents of his blue treasure basket.

Concentrating on the Color Blue

I made an effort to concentrate on the color blue on our “b” Montessori shelves. I thought it would be a good idea to combine Little Bee’s learning experiences, especially since we also have rainbow colors on another working shelf in our home. Please visit, Montessori Inspired Toddler Rainbow Unit to learn more.

The button transfer was so cool. I also really loved the matching game. So clever! But I’m most excited to try out the sand box. I think we could whip up something similar. Thanks for the inspiration!!